*-£
rLAftfi _ .
Rrw>K '
-— • ^—
own
g2>k-£4-
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2010 with funding from
Lyrasis Members and Sloan Foundation
http://www.archive.org/details/charterofrichmonOOunse
CHARTER
OF THE
RICHMOND AND PETERSBURG
RAIL ROAD COMPANY.
RICHMOND:
Printed by T. W. White, opposite the Bell Tavern.
1836.
VIRGIN',* or—
~» ' r^
PROCES3T3D BY
LOT # cii&L
AN ACT,
Incorporating the Stockholders of the Richmond
and Petersburg Rail Road Company.
[Passed March 14th, 1836.]
Be it enacted by the General Assembly, That it shall be lawful
to open books in the city of Richmond and town of Petersburg,
under the direction of Joseph Marx, Nicholas Mills, R. B. Haxall,
James Bosher, Conway Robinson, Gustavus A. Myers, and John
A. Lancaster, for the city of Richmond ; and Robert Boiling - ,
Charles F. Osborne, Joseph Bragg, Hartwell P. Heath, James
Macfaiiand, jr. P. Durkin and John Taliaferro, for the town of
Petersburg ; or any two of the same, or of any deputies or
agents of the said commissioners, for the purpose of receiving
subscriptions, to the amount of three hundred thousand dollars,
to constitute, with any amount which the Board of Public Works
may be authorized to subscribe on behalf of the state, at the
present session of the legislature, a joint capital stock, for the
purpose of making a rail road between the city of Richmond and
town of Petersburg, and for extending a branch or branches of
the said rail road, should the company hereby incorporated, at the
commencement of the work, or at any time afterwards, deem it
advisable to do so, from a point or points on the line of the said
rail road, to Bermuda Hundred. Provided, nothing herein con-
tained shall be construed as granting the privilege of extending
the rail road along any of the streets of the said city of Richmond
or town of Petersburg, except with the consent of the common
council of the said city or town, or along any of the streets of the
town of Manchester, except with the consent of the trustees of
the said town : JLnd Provided, that the general assembly shall, at
12
any time hereafter, be at liberty to incorporate any company, or
companies, to construct a lateral rail road, or rail roads, to connect
with the rail road herein authorized, to any intermediate point.
The time and place for receiving subscriptions as aforesaid, shall
be advlrtised in one or more newspapers published in the city of
Richmond, and town of Petersburg ; and the books for receiving
the same shall not be closed in less than three days : and if it
shall appear that more than three thousand shares of the capital
stock aforesaid shall have been subscribed for within the said
three days, it shall be the duty of tbe said commissioners, or any
five of them, to reduce the number of shares subscribed for,
among the subscribers, in fair and equal proportions to the
amount of stock subscribed for respectively by each, until the
whole amount of shares shall be reduced to throe thousand:
Provided, koivever, that the books shall be opened in the first
instance, at each of the said towns, for receiving subscriptions at
each, to the amount of fifteen hundred shares ; and the scale of
reduction shall be applied separately to the subscriptions made at
the two places. Bat if the whole amount of shares shall not be
subscribed for within three days from the time the books shall be
opened to receive subscriptions, then the books may be closed or
continued open, or closed and re-opened, at either of the said
towns, without further notice, as a majority of the above named
commissioners may judge to be most expedient, until the whole
number of shares shall be subscribed for.
When fifteen hundred shares shall be subscribed in manner
aforesaid, the subscribers, their executors, administrators, or as-
signs, shall be, and they are hereby declared to be incorporated
into a company, by the name and style of the " Richmond and
Petersburg Rail Road Company ;" and by that name shall be
capable in law of purchasing, holding, selling, leasing and con-
veying estates, real, personal, and mixed, so far as shall be
necessary for the purposes hereinafter mentioned, and no farther,
and shall have perpetual succession, and by said corporate name
may sue and be sued, and may have and enjoy, and may exercise
all the powers, rights and privileges which other corporate bodies
13
may lawfully do, for the purposes mentioned in this act ; and may
make all such by-laws, rules and regulations, not inconsistent
with the laws of this state or of the United States, as shall be
necessary for well ordering and conducting the affairs of the
company.
Upon any subscription of stock as aforesaid, there shall be
paid at the time of subscribing, to the said commissioners, their
deputies, or agents, appointed to receive such subscriptions, the
sum of five dollars on every share subscribed, and the residue
thereof shall be paid in such instalments and at such times as
it may be required by the president and directors of the company.
The said commissioners and deputy commissioners shall forth-
with after the election of the president and directors of the com-
pany, pay over to the said president and directors all moneys
received by them : and in failure thereof, the said president and
directors may recover the amount due from them, or from any one
or more of them, by motion, on ten days' previous notice, in the
superior or inferior court of any county or corporation wherein
such commissioner or commissioners, their executors or adminis-
trators, may reside. The clerk shall endorse upon the execution
which shall issue upon such judgment, that no security shall be
taken, and the sheriff or other officer shall govern himself ac-
cordingly.
When fifteen hundred shares or more of the stock shall have
been subscribed, public notice of that event shall be given by any
three or more of the said commissioners, who shall have power
at the same time to call a general meeting of the subscribers, at
such convenient place and time as they shall name in the said
notice. To constitute such a meeting, a number of persons
entitled to a majority of all the votes which could be given upon
all shares subscribed, shall be present, either in person or by
proxy ; and if a sufficient number to constitute a meeting do not
attend on that day, those who do attend shall have power to
adjourn from time to time until a meeting shall be formed.
The subscribers, at their general meeting before directed, and
the proprietors of the stock, at every annual meeting thereafter,
14
shall elect a president and five directors, who shall continue in
office, unless sooner removed, until the next annual meeting after
their election, and until their successors shall be < locted ; but the
saul president, or any of the directors, may al anytime be re-
moved^and the vacancy thereby occasioned be filled byamajority
of the votes given at any general meeting. The president, with
any three or more of the directors, or in the event of the sickness,
disability or absence of the president, any three or more of the
directors, who shall appoint one of their own body president pro
tempore, shall constitute a board for the transaction of business.
In ease of vacancy in the office of president or any director,
happening from death, resignation, removal, or disability, such
vacancy may be supplied by appointment of the board, or by the
proprietors in general meeting; and provided, that no such branch or
lateral rail road shall be extended to or toioards the coal mines in the
county of Chesterfield*
The president and directors of the said company shall be, and
they are hereby invested with all the' rights and powers neces-
sary for the construction, repair and maintaining of a rail road to
be located as afosesaid, with as many sets of tracks as they or a
majority of them may deem necessary, and may cause to be
made, and also to make and construct all works whatsoever
which maybe necessary and expedient, in order to the proper
completion of the said rail road.
It shall be the duty of the said president and directors first to
defray, with any moneys which may be received by them of the
commissioners, the expenses of the preliminary surveys for the
rail road made prior to the incorporation of the company. The
said president and directors shall afterwards have power to make
contracts with any person or persons on behalf of the company,
for making the said rail road, and performing all other works
respecting the same which they shall judge necessary and proper ;
* The clause allowing branches or lateral rail roads, which preceded
this proviso, was struck out while this bill was before the House of Dele-
gates, and the proviso thereby became unnecessary. It was probably
retained tli rough inadvertence.
15
and to require from the subscribers, from time to time, such
advances of money on their respective shares as the wants of the
company may demand, until the whole of the subscriptions shall
be advanced ; to call on any emergency a general meeting of the
subscribers, giving one month's notice thereof in one of the news-
papers printed in the city of Richmond or town of Petersburg ;
to appoint a treasurer, clerk, and such other officers as they may
require ; and to transact all the business of the company, during
the intervals between the general meetings of the stockholders.
If any stockholder shall fail to pay the sum required of him by
the president and directors, or a majority of them, within one
month after the same shall have been advertised in one of the
newspapers published in the city of Richmond and town of
Petersburg, it shall and may be lawful for the president and
directors, or a majority of them, to sell at public auction, and to
convey to the purchaser, the share or shares of such stockholders
so failing or refusing, giving one month's previous notice of the
time and place of sale, in manner aforesaid, and after retaining
the sum due and all charges of the sale out of the proceeds
thereof, to pay the surplus over to the former owner or his legal
representative ; and if the said sale shall not produce the sum
required to be advanced, with the incidental charges attending
the sale, then the president and directors may recover the balance
of the original proprietor or his assignee, or the executor or
administrator of either of them, by motion, on ten days' notice,
before the court of that county of which he is an inhabitant, or
by warrant before a justice of such county ; and any purchaser
of the stock of the company under the sale by the president and
directors, shall be subject to the same rules and regulations as the
original proprietors.
Be it further enacted, That if the capital stock of the company
hereby incorporated shall be found insufficient for the purposes
of this act, it shall and may be lawful for the president and
directors of said company, or a majority of them, from time to
time, to increase the said capital stock to an amount not exceeding
eight hundred thousand dollars, by the addition of as many shares
16
as they may deem necessary ; first giving to the said individual
stockholders, for the time being, or their legal representatives, the
option of talking such additional shares in proportion to the amount
of stock respectively held by them, and opening books of sub-
scription in the city of Richmond and town of Petersburg, as is
herein prescribed for the original stock of the company, for any
balance of capital stock created which may not be taken by the
stockholders for the time being, or in their behalf; and the sub-
scribers for such additional shares of the capital stock in the said
company are hereby declared to be thenceforward incorporated
into the said company, with all the privileges and advantages,
and subject to all the liabilities of the original stockholders.
Be it further enacted, That the said president and directors, or a
majority of them, shall have power to borrow money for the objects
of this act, to issue certificates or other evidence of such loans,
and to make the same convertible into stock of the company at the
pleasure of the holder, provided that the capital stock shall not there-
by be increased to an amount exceeding eight hunched thousand
dollars, and to pledge the property of the company for the pay-
ments of the same and its interest : Provided, that no certificate of
loans convertible into stock, or creating any lien or mortgage on
the property of the company, shall be issued by the president and
directors, unless the expediency of making a loan on such terms,
and of issuing such certificates, shall have first been determined
on at a general meeting of the stockholders, by two-thirds of the
votes which could legally be given in favor of the same.
Be it further enacted, That the said president and directors, their
officers, agents, and servants, shall have full power and authority
to enter upon all lands and tenements through which they may
desire to conduct their rail road, and to lay out the same according
to their pleasure, so that the dwelling house of no person be
invaded without his consent ; and that they shall have power to
enter in and lay out such contiguous land as they may desire to
occupy as sites for depots, tolhhouses, warehouses, engine sheds,
work shops and other buildings for the necessary accommodation
of their officers, agents and servants, their horses, mules and other
17
cattle, and for the protection of the property entrusted to their
care : Provided, that the land so laid out on the general line of
the rail road shall not exceed, except at deep cuts and fillings,
eighty feet in width, and that the adjoining land for the sites of
buildings, unless the president and directors can agree with the
» owner or owners for the purchase of the same, shall not exceed
one and an half acre in any one parcel. If the president and
directors cannot agree with the owner or owners of the land, so
entered on and laid out by them, on the terms of purchase, it shall
be lawful for them to apply to the court of the county in which
such land or the greater part thereof may lie, and upon such
application the court shall appoint five discreet, intelligent, disin-
terested, and impartial freeholders, to assess the damages to the
owner from the condemnation of his land for the purposes afore-
said. No such appointment, however, shall be made, unless ten
days' previous notice of the application shall have been given to
the owner of the land, or to the guardian, if the owner be an
infant, or to the committee, the owner being nbn compos mentis,
if such owner, guardian or committee can be found within the
county, or if he cannot be so found, then such appointment shall not
be made, unless notice of the application shall have been pub-
lished at least one month next preceding, in some newspaper
printed as convenient as may be to the court house of the county,
and shall have been posted at the door of the court house on the
first day at least of the next preceding term of the said court.
A day for the meeting of the said freeholders to perform the duty
assigned them, shall be designated in the order appointing them ;
and any one or more of them attending on that day, may adjourn
from time to time, until their business shall be finished. Of the five
freeholders so appointed, any three or more may act, after having
been duly sworn or solemnly affirmed before some justice of the
peace, that they will impartially and justly, to the best of their
ability, ascertain the damages which will be sustained by the
proprietor of the land, from the condemnation thereof for the use
of the company, and that they will truly certify their proceedings
thereupon to the court of the said county.
3
18
It shall be the duty of the said freeholders in pursuance of the
order appointing them, to assemble on the land proposed to be con-
demned, and after viewing the same and hearing such proper evi-
dence as either party may offer, they shall ascertain, according to
the best of their judgment, the damages which the proprietor of
the land will sustain by the condemnation thereof, for the use of
the company. In performing this duty, they shall consider the
proprietor of the land as being the owner of the whole fee simple
interest therein; they shall take into consideration the quantity
and quality of the land to be condemned, the additional fencing
which will be required thereby, or the injury or inconvenience
which will result to the proprietor from dispensing with the same,
and all other inconveniences and injuries which will result to the
proprietor from the passage of the rail road through his lands, and
shall combine therewith a just regard to the advantages which
the owner of the land will derive from the construction of the rail
road.
When the said freeholders shall have agreed upon the amount
of damages, they shall forthwith make a written report of their
proceedings, under their hands and seals, in substance, as follow-
eth : — " We, freeholders, appointed by an
order of the county court of , for the purpose of ascer-
taining the damages which would be sustained by ,
the proprietor of certain lands in the said county, through which
the president and directors of the Richmond and Petersburg Rail
Road Company, propose to conduct their said rail road, do hereby
certify, that we met together on the land aforesaid, on the
day of , the day appointed therefor by the said order, (or the
day to which we were regularly adjourned from the day appointed
for our meeting by the said order,) and that having been first duly
sworn, and having viewed the premises, we proceeded to estimate
the quantity and quality of the land aforesaid, the quantity of
additional fencing, which would probably be occasioned by its
condemnation, and all other inconveniences which seemed to us
likely to result therefrom to the proprietor of said land ; that we
combined with these considerations, as far as we could, a just
19
regard to the advantages which would be derived by the proprie-
tor of said land, from the construction of the rail road, for the use
of which the said land is to be condemned ; that under the influ-
ence of these considerations, we have estimated, and do hereby
assess the sum of as the amount of damages or injury
which the said proprietor will sustain beyond the amount of benefit
which he will derive from the construction of the said rail road.
Given under our hands and seals this day of ." — At
the foot of the report so made; the magistrate before whom the
said freeholders were sworn, shall make a certificate in substance,
as follows : " County, to wit : I , a justice of the peace for
said county, do hereby certify that the above named freeholders,
before they executed their duties as above certified, were solemnly
sworn or affirmed before me, that they would impartially and
justly to the best of their ability, ascertain the damages which
would be sustained by the above named from the condem-
nation and use of his lands for the purposes of the Richmond and
Petersburg Rail Road Company, having a just regard to the ad-
vantages which the said would derive from the construc-
tion of said rail road ; and that they would certify truly their pro-
ceedings thereupon to the court of the said county. Given under
my hand this day of ."
The report of the freeholders so made, together with the certi-
ficate of the magistrate as aforesaid, shall be forthwith returned
by the said freeholders to the court of the county ; and unless
good cause be shown against the report, it shall be confirmed by
the court and entered of record ; but if the said report should be
disaffirmed, or if the said freeholders being unable to agree, should
report their disagreement, or from any other cause they should fail
to make a report within a reasonable time after their appointment,
the court may at its discretion as often as may be necessary, su-
persede them or any of them, appoint others in their stead, and
direct another view and report to be made in the manner above
prescribed.
On the confirmation of any such report, and on the payment or
tender to the proprietor of the land of the damages so assessed,
20
or the payment of said damages into court, when for good cause
shown, the court .-hall so have ordered it, the land viewed and
assessed as aforesaid, shall be vested in the Richmond and Peters-
burg Rail Road ( Company in the same manner as if the proprie-
tor had sold and conveyed it to them. While these proceedings
are depending for the purpose of ascertaining the damages to the
proprietor for the condemnation of his land, and even before they
shall have been instituted, the president and directors, if they think
that the interest of the company requires it, may by themselves,
their officers, agents and servants, enter upon the lands laid out by
them as aforesaid, and which they desire to condemn and apply
the same to the uses of the company. If, when they so take
possession, proceedings to ascertain the damages as aforesaid be
pending, it shall be their duty diligently to prosecute them to a
conclusion. And when the report of the freeholders ascertaining
the damages shall be returned and confirmed, the court shall ren-
der judgment in favor of the proprietor of the land for the amount
thereof, and either compel its payment into court, or award process
of execution for its recovery, as to them shall seem right.
In the mean time no order shall be made, and no injunction shall
be awarded by any court or judge to stay the proceedings of the
company in the prosecution of their works, unless it be manifest
that they, their officers, agents or servants, are transcending the
authority given them by this act, and that the interposition of the
court is necessary to prevent injury that cannot be adequately
compensated in damages.
If the president and directors shall take possession of any land,
before the same shall have been purchased by them, or condemned
and paid for according to the provisions of this act, and shall fail
for forty days to institute proceedings for its condemnation as
aforesaid, or shall not prosecute with due diligence the proceedings
commenced for that purpose, it shall be lawful for the proprietor of
the land upon giving to the said president and directors or any one
of them, ten days previous not ice, to apply to the court of the county
in which the land or the greater part thereof shall lie ; and upon
such application the court shall appoint five discreet, intelligent,
21
disinterested and impartial freeholders, to assess the damages to
the owner from the condemnation of his land, for the use of the
company ; shall appoint a day for their meeting to perform the
duties assigned them, and shall dismiss, at the costs of the com-
pany, any proceedings then depending on their behalf for the con-
demnation of the same land. The freeholders so appointed, any
three or more of whom may act, shall proceed in the performance
of their duties, in all respects, in the same manner as if they had
been appointed on the application of the president and directors of
the company. And the court shall in like manner confirm or dis-
affirm their report, supersede them or any of them, and appoint
others in their stead, or direct another view and report to be made
as often as may be necessary. And when any such report ascer-
taining the damages shall be confirmed, the court shall render
judgment in favor of the proprietor for the damages so assessed,
and double costs, and shall, thereupon, either compel the company
to pay into court the damages and costs so adjudged, or award
process of execution therefor, as to them shall seem right.
When the judgment rendered for damages assessed and costs,
shall be satisfied by the payment of the money into court or other-
wise, the title of the land for which such damages are assessed,
shall be vested in the company in the same manner as if the pro-
prietor had sold and conveyed it to them.
The said president and directors for the purpose of constructing
their rail road aforesaid, and the works necessarily connected there-
with, or of repairing the same, after they shall have been made, or
of enlarging or otherwise altering the same, shall be at liberty by
themselves, their officers, agents or servants, at any time to enter
upon any adjacent lands, and to cut, quarry, dig, take and carry
away therefrom, any wood, stone, gravel or earth, which they may
deem necessary. Provided, however, that they shall not, without
the consent of the owner, cut down any fruit tree, or any tree pre-
served in any field or lot for shade or for ornament, or take any
timber, gravel, stone or earth, constituting any part of any fence
or building. For all wood taken under authority of this act, and
for all incidental injuries done to the enclosures, crops, woods or
22
grounds, in taking or carrying the same away, or in removing any
stone or gravel, the said president and directors shall make to the
iiv, tier a fair and reasonable compensation, to be ascertained if the
parties cannot agree, by any three impartial, intelligent, and dis-
interest^! freeholders, who being appointed for that purpose by
any justice of the peace, thereto required by either of the parties,
shall be swum by him, and shall then ascertain the compensation
upon their own view of the grounds, whence the said wood,
stone, gravel or earth may have been taken, and of the injury
done as aforesaid in taking them. Provided, however, that it shall
be the duty of the owner or owners, to show to the justice of the
peace to whom the application is made, that ten days' previous
notice of the time of making the same has been given to the pre-
sident or one of the principal agents of the said rail road company,
ami no award which may be given under any appointment without
such notice shall be obligatory or binding on said company: Pro-
vided, farther, that either party not satisfied with the award, may
appeal to the court of the county, which may at its discretion,
confirm the said award and enter it of record, or as often as may
in its opinion be necessary, may supersede the said freeholders or
any of them, appoint others in their stead, and direct another view
and award to be made in the manner above prescribed.
If the said president and directors on entering upon the land of
any person under the authority of this act, for the purpose of lay-
ing out, or constructing, enlarging, altering or repairing any of
their said works, shall by themselves, or their officers, do any wan-
ton or wilful injury to such land or its appurtenances, or to the
crops growing, or gathered, or to any other property thereon, the
Richmond and Petersburg Rail Road Company shall pay to the
person so injured, double the amount of damages which shall be
assessed by a jury in any proper action therefor; if such injury be
done by any person or persons, who may have contracted with
the company for the construction of any portion of their rail road,
or any of the works connected therewith, he or they, shall be
responsible to the injured party in the like amount.
Whenever in the construction of said rail road, it shall be neces-
23
sary to cross or intersect any established road or way, it shall be
the duty of the said president and directors so to construct the
said rail road across such established road or way, as not to
impede the passage or transportation of persons or property along
the same ; or where it shall be necessary to pass through the land
of any individual, it shall also be their duty to provide for such
individual, proper wagon ways across said rail road, from one part
of his land to the other. Provided, hoioever, that in order to pre-
vent the frequent crossings of established roads or ways, or an
interference with the same, it may be lawful for the president and
directors to change the same at points where they deem it expe-
dient to do so : And that for entering upon or taking of any lands
which may be necessary therefor, they shall be, and are hereby
authorized to proceed under the provisions of this act, as in the
case of land necessary for their rail road : Provided, farther, that
previous to the making of any such change, the said company
shall make and prepare a road equally good with the portion of
the road proposed to be substituted ; but nothing herein contained
shall be so construed as to make it incumbent on the company to
keep in repair the portion of any road which they may have
changed as aforesaid.
The said president and directors, or a majority of them, shall
have power to purchase with the funds of the said company, and
place on the rail road constructed by them under this act, all
machines, wagons, vehicles, carriages and teams of any descrip-
tion whatsoever, which they may deem necessary or proper for the
purposes of transportation.
All machines, wagons, vehicles and carriages, purchased as
aforesaid with the funds of the company, and all their works con-
structed under the authority of this act, and all profits which shall
accrue from the same, shall be vested in the respective sharehold-
ers of the company forever, in proportion to their respective shares;
and the same shall be deemed personal estate, and shall be exempt
from any public charge or tax whatsoever.
Upon the rail road hereby authorized, the company shall have
the exclusive right of transportation. When it is completed, they
24
shall at all times famish and keep in good repair the necessary
carriages and other requisites for the safe and convenient trans-
portation of persons and property, and it shall be their duty at all
times, upon th nl or tender of the tolls hereby allowed
to transport to any convenient place of delivery on the road,
which the owner of the goods may indicate, and there to deliver
all articles which shall be delivered to them for transportation, or
offered to them in proper condition to be transported, at some, place
on the road convenient for the reception thereof.
They shall give no undue preference in transportation to the
property of one person over that of another; but as far as prac-
i icable, shall carry each in the order of time in which it shall be
delivered or offered for transportation, with the tolls paid or ten-
dered. If the company, or any of its officers or agents shall fail
to receive, transport and deliver in due time, any property so offered
or delivered to them for transportation ; or shall fad to take up or
set down any passenger or passengers at such convenient point
as he or they may desire, upon the payment or tender of the pas-
sage money hereby allowed, they shall forfeit and pay to the party
so injured, double the amount of the lawful tolls paid or tendered,
and shall moreover be liable to an action on the case, in which
full damages and double costs shall be recovered. So soon as any
portion of the rail road hereby authorized may be in readiness for
transportation, it shall be lawful for the said president and direc-
tors to transport by their officers and agents, or by contractors
under them, persons and property on the same, and they shall
have power to charge for the transportation of persons, goods, pro-
duce, merchandize and other articles, and for the transportation of
mail, any sum not exceeding the following rates, viz: on per-
sons, not exceeding eight cents per mde for each person, unless the
distance which any person be transported, be less than ten miles, in
winch (use the presideni and directors may be entitled to make an
extra charge of fifty cents, for taking up and putting down each
person so transported ; for the transportation of goods, produce,
merchandize and other articles, not exceeding an average of ten
cents per ton per mile, and for the transportation of the mail such
25
sum as they may agree for ; and the said president and directors
shall be furthermore entitled to demand and receive for the wharf-
age, weighing, storage and delivery of produce and other com-
modities, at their depots and warehouses, rates not exceeding the
ordinary warehouse rates charged in the city of Richmond and
town of Petersburg.
Be it further enacted, That if the president and directors shall
deem it advisable to construct the bridges which may be necessary
on the line of their rail road of sufficient width to admit of the
passage of common roads, as well as their rail road, over the same,
they may be entitled to demand and receive from all persons and
for wagons, carriages, and all four and two wheeled conveyances,
and for all beasts of burthen, sheep and hogs, passing the same,
such rates of toll as may appear to them fair and reasonable, sub-
ject to the revision and regulation of the board of public works,
from time to time. Provided, however, that no bridge, other than a
rail road bridge, shall be constructed across the James river at the
city of Richmond, without the consent of the proprietor or pro-
prietors of Mayo's bridge.
As soon as ten miles of the rail road hereby authorized shall
be completed, the president and directors shall annually or semi-
annually declare and make such dividends as they may deem
proper of the nett profits arising from the resources of the said
company, after deducting the necessary current and probable con-
tingent expenses of the said company ; and shall divide the same
among the proprietors of the stock of the said company in proper
proportions to their respective shares.
An annual meeting of the subscribers to the stock of the said
company, shall be held at such time and place in each year as
the stockholders at their first general meeting, or at any subse-
quent meeting may appoint ; to constitute which, or any general
meeting called by the president and directors according to the pro-
visions of this act, the presence of proprietors entitled to a majority
of all the votes which could be given by all the stockholders, shall
be necessary either in person or by proxy properly authorized :
and if a sufficient number do not attend on that day, or any day
4
26
appointed for a general meeting called by the directors as afore-
said, the proprietors who do attend, may adjourn from time to time
until a general meeting shall be had.
In counting all votes of the said company, each member shall
be allowed one vote for each share not exceeding two shares, one
vote for every two shares above two and not exceeding ten shares,
and one vote for every five .-hares above ten, by him held at the
time in the stock of the company. Provided, however, that no
stockholder, whether an individual, body politic or corporate, shall
be entitled to more than sixty votes on any amount of capital
stock of the said company held by him or them.
The president and directors shall render distinct accounts of
their proceedings and disbursements of money to the annual meet-
ing of the stockholders.
The works hereby required of the Richmond and Petersburg
Rail Road Company shall be executed with diligence, and if they
be not commenced within two years after the passage of this act,
and finished within ten years after the first general meeting of the
stockholders, then their charter shall be forfeited.
The president and directors shall cause to be written or printed
certificates for the shares of the stock in the said company, and
shall deliver one such certificate signed by the president and coun-
tersigned by the treasurer, to each person for the number of shares
subscribed by him ; which certificate shall be transferable by him;
subject, however, to all payments due or to become due thereon ;
and such assignee having first caused the transfer or assignment
to be entered in a book to be kept for that purpose, shall thence-
forth become a member of the said company, and shall be liable
to pay all sums due, or which shall become due upon the stock
assigned to him. Provided, however, that such assignment shall
in no wise exempt the assignor or his representative from their
liabilities to the said company for the paj ment of all such sums if
the assignee or his representatives shall be unable or fad to pay
the -
If any person or persons shall wilfully by any means whatso-
ever, injure, impair or destroy any part of any rail road constructed
under this act or any of the necessary works, machinery, wagons,
27
vehicles or carriages belonging to the said company, such person
or persons shall be punished according to the laws which may be
in force at the time for the protection of public works or property
of the commonwealth.
Be it further enacted, That if at any time hereafter the above
rates for toll and transportation shall enable the said president and
directors after the payment of all necessary expences, and after
setting apart a fair and reasonable sum for the renewal and repairs
of the road, warehouses, depots and other constructions, and of
the machines, cars and other vehicles for transportation, to divide
more than fifteen per cent, on their capital stock invested, that then
the said rates of toll and transportation shall be reduced by the
said president and directors so as to enable them to divide fifteen
per cent, and no more.
And whereas the Manchester and Petersburg Turnpike Com-
pany incorporated by an act of the general assembly, passed
February the thirteenth, eighteen hundred and sixteen, to establish
a turnpike road from the town of Manchester to the town of Pe
tersburg, have presented at this session of the general assembly
a memorial, praying that an act may be passed to authorize the
said company to raise by subscription an additional capital of four
hundred thousand dollars, and to construct a rail road from the
city of Richmond, to the town of Petersburg, upon such terms
and conditions, and under such limitations and restrictions as may
seem to the general assembly just and reasonable ; but if this
may not be awarded to the said company, then, praying that in
incorporating a new company to make the contemplated rail road,
such an indemnity shall be provided for the memorialists as may
be just and reasonable.
Be it therefore enacted, That any stockholder in the said Man-
chester and Petersburg Turnpike Company, may within six
months from the time that the company hereby authorized shall
stand incorporated, transfer his stock to the said company, and
the said company hereby authorized shall pay to such stockholder
the value of the stock so transferred, and the company hereby
authorized shall in respect to the stock so transferred to it, be enti-
tled to the same rights and privileges that an individual would
i
28
haw. and be bound to perform the same duties that an individual
would be bound to perform in case such transfer were to an indi-
vidual. The value of the stock in the Mam licsier and Peters-
burg Turnpike Company shall be ascertained by four commission-
ers, two of whom shall be appointed by the president and direc-
tors of the said Manchester and Petersburg Turnpike Company,
or a majority of them, and the other two, by a majority of the
persons under whose directions books are authorized to be opened
by this act for receiving subscriptions; and in case of failure by
either of the parties above named to make the appointment, then
by the board of public works. If a majority of the said com-
missioners should be unable to agree upon the sum to be fixed as
the value of the stock, the four commissioners, or a majority of
them shall appoint one additional commissioner to act with them,
in ascertaining such value. The above commissioners shall be
appointed by the fifteenth day of April next, and report their deci-
sion on or before the first day of June next, to the board of public
works which shall be binding, as well on the rail road company
hereby established, as the Manchester and Petersburg Turnpike
Company.
Provided, That the said road shall not be extended within the
corporation line of the town of Petersburg, without the consent of
a majority of the citizens thereof qualified to vote for members of
the common hall of said town, in general meeting assembled, after
due notice: — And, provided, that in the event of the said majority
of citizens, within four months from the time of the organization
of the company hereby incorporated, granting permission to said
company, to extend their said road across the Appomattox, by a
bridge, to some convenient point on the south side of said river,
within the corporation, nearest the depot of the Petersburg and
Roanoke Rail Road Company, the company hereby incorporated
shall locate the termination of their said road accordingly.
This act shall be in force from its passage.
The foregoing is a true cojy from the original.
GEORGE W. MUNFOHD,0. H. D.
March ISM, 1836.
RGINIA STATE LIBRARY
1000078159
TVNews
OpenLibrary